Affective Attitudes Research Articles

The Influential Roles of Past Experience, Affective Attitude, and Destination Culture on Thai Tourists’ Likelihoods of Revisitation and Recommendation

Drawing upon tourism contribution, tourists’ visitations are the backbone of the country’s economic growth and development. This study thus aims to test a structural model for examining the relationship between tourists’ affection, cultural perceptions, their revisit, and recommendation intentions through the mediating role of past travel experience. To test our hypotheses, 547 questionnaires from Thai tourists were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that all hypotheses are substantially confirmed and statistically significant except for the affective attitude aspect which is not found to influence tourists’ revisit and recommendation intentions. Notwithstanding, we found that the tourist experience catalyzes revisit and recommendation intentions. However, tourists’ affection perception only nurtures their travel experience, but not for revisitation and recommendation. As such, this study sheds a new laser light on how tourists’ perceptions can influence future economic growth. The recommendations and suggestions on these findings are explained and can be an avenue for future research. Implications for entrepreneurs, policymakers, and the Asian business context are also presented.

Understanding Students’ Cognitive and Affective Attitude and Attitudinal Structures Toward Physical Activity

Understanding Students’ Cognitive and Affective Attitude and Attitudinal Structures Toward Physical Activity

Attitudes to Organ Donor Registration in England Under Opt-Out Legislation.

Introduction: In England, everyone is considered an organ donor unless they have registered for opt-out donation. Research Question: This study evaluated positive statements and negative affective attitudes against anticipated organ donor status and whether the order in the attitudes and statements presented impacted organ donor intention under an opt-out system. Design: A quasi-experimental mixed between-within design was employed with participants assigned to 1 of 2 conditions. Participants in the first condition received negative affective attitude statements followed by positive statements. This was reversed in the second condition to combat ordering effects. Participants (N = 679) were asked about their donor status under an opt-out system. There were three groups: opt-in (actively), opt-out/not sure, and deemed consent (no objection). Organ donor intentions were measured at three intervals: baseline, post-positive statements, and post-negative attitudes. Results: Approximately 10% of participants would opt-out or were unsure of their intentions to be an organ donor under an opt-out system. Significant effects were found in both positive statements and negative affective attitudes. All groups expressed greater medical mistrust and were most influenced by cognitive attitudes. Conclusions: Under the opt-out system in England, it is anticipated that the majority would actively opt-in or have no objection to being automatically registered as an organ donor. Public health campaigns would benefit from promoting the most influential positive statements and refuting the most detrimental negative attitudes to increase intentions of those who plan to opt-out or are unsure.

All’s well that ends well: an early-phase study testing lower end-session exercise intensity to promote physical activity in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Decreasing the intensity of exercise at the end of a session has been associated with greater post-exercise pleasure and enjoyment. Here, we investigated whether this manipulation can enhance affective attitudes toward physical activity (PA) and promote PA in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Seven patients (72.9 ± 5.6 years, 3 women) were included in an eight-week within-subject study consisting of weekly exercise sessions. The first four weeks were used as a control condition. In the last four weeks, 9 minutes of lower-intensity exercise were added at the end of each session (experimental condition). Results of the linear mixed-effects models showed that the addition of lower-intensity exercise improved the explicit affective attitudes toward PA (b = 1.00, 95%CI = 0.36 to 1.64, P = 0.022). We found no evidence of an effect on implicit affective attitudes (P = 0.564), accelerometer-based PA (P = 0.417) and self-reported measures of PA (P = 0.122). Although not significant, self-reported PA per day was 36 minutes longer in the experimental than in the control condition. The findings of this early-phase study may suggest that reducing the intensity of an exercise at the end of the exercise sessions enhanced explicit affective attitudes toward PA in patients with PD. Yet, future well-powered and randomized studies are needed to provide more robust evidence.

Accommodation, social attraction, and intergroup attitudes on social media: the effects of outgroup self-presentation and ingroup accommodation

This experiment examines whether exposure to outgroup members' self-presentation on Facebook and ingroup members' accommodative versus nonaccommodative responses influence perceptions of outgroup members' social attractiveness and attitudes toward the target outgroup. U.S. college students (N = 865) saw one of four fictitious Facebook pages with wall posts representing a Chinese international student's self-presentation (positive vs. negative) and the student's U.S. Facebook friends' response (accommodative vs. nonaccommodative). The Chinese international student's U.S. Facebook friends were ingroup members with respect to the U.S. college student participants. Participants who viewed outgroup members with positive (compared to negative) self-presentation and ingroup accommodation (compared to nonaccommodation) perceived the outgroup target as more socially attractive. Perceptions of the outgroup target generalized to both affective and behavioral attitudes toward the Chinese outgroup. However, direct effects in our mediated model yielded some complex effects wherein negative self-presentation and communication partner nonaccommodation yielded more positive attitudinal effects. We discuss these findings in terms of the complex dynamics of intergroup accommodation in the online space.

Are Character Strengths and Attitudes towards Vegetarian Food Related?

One aspect of sustainable consumption behavior is the shift to a vegetarian diet. This study investigates if individual factors, like character strengths, are related to attitudes toward vegetarian food. Additionally, the study examines potential variations in character strengths between vegetarians/vegans and omnivores, as well as whether there are differences in explicit and implicit affective attitudes towards vegetarian and meat-based diets. A total of 210 participants filled out a demographic questionnaire, a scale measuring character strength, an explicit rating task, and an affective priming task that involved images of both vegetarian and meat-based food. The results showed that there was no difference in the explicit and implicit rating of meat-based food compared to vegetarian food for omnivore people. Vegetarians/vegans rated vegetarian food explicitly and implicitly more positively than meat-based food. Only the four character strengths of prudence, appreciation of beauty and excellence, humor, and teamwork, besides the diet type (vegetarians/vegans vs. omnivores), predicted the explicit attitudes toward vegetarian food. Vegetarians/vegans and omnivores only differed in the character strengths of love of learning and forgiveness. This study provides evidence that the explicit and implicit attitudes towards vegetarian food are concordant for vegetarians and vegans with their diet choice. Furthermore, the relationship between character strengths and explicit attitudes toward vegetarian food is weak, which hints that those individual transformative qualities (Woiwode et al., 2021) toward sustainable attitude and behavior should be investigated carefully and in-depth.

Are Academics Becoming More Confused Than Before? A Diachronic Study of Confusion Markers in Applied Linguistics Research Articles

Research articles generate and disseminate disciplinary knowledge in a specific field of study. They are expected to be objective, faceless, and free from expressions of emotion. However, linguistic expressions of confusion that signal authors’ affective attitude toward the propositional information are not uncommon in research articles. To determine and describe the dynamic changes that occurred in the deployment of such expressions in communicating disciplinary knowledge, this study examined linguistically expressed confusion in a corpus of 160 research articles in applied linguistics that were published in two periods separated by 30 years. Drawing on a frame-based analytical approach, this study revealed that time of publication was a robust predictor of academic authors’ overall use of confusion markers and the presence of some subcategories across the four frame elements of the Confusion frame. This study sheds new light on the possibilities of applying frame semantics to academic discourse analysis. More importantly, it has pedagogical implications in terms of helping raise the awareness of novice writers about the necessity of acquiring a time-sensitive repertoire of discursive resources to convey an appropriate authorial identity for effective academic communication.

Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns toward Inclusion of Public School Teachers about Disabilities

This study was conducted on assessment of sentiments, Attitudes and concerns towards the inclusion of public-school teachers about disabilities. Data was collected from public school teachers. A cross-sectional study was done in 6 month time period and will be evaluated side by side. Approximately 600 participants were the part of study using nonprobability convenient sampling. Results showed that the intervention increased the self-efficacy of teaching, producing more favourable cognition and affective attitudes toward inclusive education, and minimized teacher concerns. However, there was less evidence regarding the impact of inclusive classroom practices. Awareness programs should be devised so that teachers could understand their responsibilities better while being in a classroom with a disabled student.

Explicit and Implicit Affective Attitudes toward Sustainability: The Role of Mindfulness, Heartfulness, Connectedness to Nature and Prosocialness

The present study aims to investigate explicit and implicit affective attitudes toward sustainability, aspects of mindfulness, and their related factors. Therefore, different areas of sustainability (e.g., mobility, nutrition, packaging) were considered. We focused mainly on the indirect effects of mindfulness on attitudes through prosocialness and connectedness to nature. Furthermore, heartfulness, as the emotional quality of mindfulness, was considered. 458 subjects answered a series of questionnaires (mindfulness, connectedness to nature, prosocial behavior, gratitude, and self-compassion questionnaire) and completed an explicit affective evaluation task, as well as an affective priming task measuring implicit attitudes. The participants explicitly evaluated sustainable concepts more positively in comparison to non-sustainable ones. There was no significant correlation between implicit and explicit affective attitudes. Furthermore, the results of structural equation modeling revealed inner awareness and insight as predictors for prosocialness, and prosocialness in turn for the explicit affective attitudes toward sustainability. In addition, exploratory analyses showed a significant relationship between self-compassion and explicit attitudes toward sustainable concepts and a significant overall relation between gratitude, prosocialness, and explicit attitudes toward sustainable concepts. None of the relations to the implicit attitudes was significant. Our findings suggest prosocialness as a relevant mediating factor for the relation of explicit attitudes toward sustainability and mindfulness. However, this connection might be more complex, and the differentiation of mindfulness aspects inner and outer awareness seems insightful and should be considered even more in further research.

Older Adults’ Stereotypes of and Attitudes Toward Younger Adults and Intergenerational Contact Frequency

ABSTRACT Affective attitudes and stereotypes of older toward younger adults influence intergenerational contact experiences and are shaped by them. To capture contemporary stereotypes about young men and women, in Study 1 (N = 112), we collected stereotypes in older adults’ own words. In Study 2 (N = 225), we collected ratings on these stereotypes and showed that negative contact correlated higher with stereotyping than positive contact, while affective attitudes were similarly correlated with both (consistent with a stronger impact of negative contact only on stereotypes). Additionally, contact showed stronger associations with warmth-related compared to competence-related stereotype content. Both results deserve attention for improving intergenerational relations.

Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral Attitudes towards Research in Peruvian University Students

The affective, cognitive, and behavioral attitudes towards research in students of public and private universities in Peru were analyzed according to socio-academic variables. Methodology. 2448 university students from a public university and 4 private universities participated; intentional sampling was used. In addition, the study was descriptive-comparative, quantitative, and non-experimental. An adequately validated measurement instrument was applied to determine students' attitudes. Results. A moderate level was found in attitudes towards research in university students (mean = 77.06, standard deviation = 12.32, median = 77, ranges from 0 to 140) for both affective and cognitive attitudes found at moderate level observing some assessment of favorable attitude, however, in behavioral attitude the average was low, being valued as unfavorable attitude towards the research. It is concluded that university students according to the area of health sciences have better attitudes towards research than students of social sciences and engineering; in addition, students of public universities have better cognitive attitudes than private students, as well as are women who present better clarity in the behavioral and cognitive attitude than male students and are the students of the last cycles of study those who value and present a more extraordinary vocation for research than students of the first cycles

Exploring correlates of physical activity using the multi-process action control framework: is there a moderating role for mental health?

ABSTRACT It is well established that individuals with poor mental health are less physically active than individuals with good mental health, in part due to symptoms like fatigue and cognitive difficulties. Despite the role of theory in intervention development, limited work has investigated the application of theoretical models of physical activity (PA) to individuals with poor mental health. This study tests a hypothesised model based on the Multi-Process Action Control (M-PAC) framework in individuals with perceived good vs. poor mental health. A secondary data analysis was performed on a cross-sectional sample of 13,881 Canadian adults. Participants completed a survey with items examining mental health, reflective processes (e.g., attitudes), intention, regulatory processes, and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). Three quarters (74.8%) of participants self-rated their mental health as good, and one quarter (25.2%) rated it as poor. A moderation model was performed using multigroup path analysis. There were no between-group differences for most direct pathways. The model was partially moderated by mental health. The effects of affective attitudes on intentions (B = 0.28, p < .001) and intentions on regulations (B = 0.36, p < .001) were significantly stronger among those with poor mental health. The strongest total effect on MVPA for the poor mental health group was perceived capability (β = .17, p < .001). The M-PAC framework may be helpful for predicting PA levels among adults with poor perceived mental health. Future research should prospectively test the full M-PAC model to better inform PA intervention research among adults with poor mental health.

Target users' acceptance of a pharmacist-led prescribing service for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a highly effective way to reduce virus transmission. There have been increasing calls to improve access to PrEP in Canada. One way to improve access is by having more prescribers available. The objective of this study was to determine target users' acceptance of a PrEP-prescribing service by pharmacists in Nova Scotia. A triangulation, mixed-methods study was conducted consisting of an online survey and qualitative interviews underpinned by the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability (TFA) constructs (affective attitude, burden, ethicality, intervention coherence, opportunity cost, perceived effectiveness and self-efficacy). Participants were those eligible for PrEP in Nova Scotia (men who have sex with men or transgender women, persons who inject drugs and HIV-negative individuals in serodiscordant relationships). Descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression were used to analyze survey data. Interview data were deductively coded according to each TFA construct and then inductively coded to determine themes within each construct. A total of 148 responses were captured by the survey, and 15 participants were interviewed. Participants supported pharmacists' prescribing PrEP across all TFA constructs from both survey and interview data. Identified concerns related to pharmacists' abilities to order and view lab results, pharmacists' knowledge and skills for sexual health and the potential for experiencing stigma within pharmacy settings. A pharmacist-led PrEP-prescribing service is acceptable to eligible populations in Nova Scotia. The feasibility of PrEP prescribing by pharmacists should be pursued as an intervention to increase access to PrEP.

A Longitudinal Study of Learning Engagement of Math and Science Gifted Students in Junior and Senior High School

A Longitudinal Study of Learning Engagement of Math and Science Gifted Students in Junior and Senior High School

Shadowing Practice Using TED Talks on the Metaverse Platform, Gather: Affective Factors and Oral Proficiency Development

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of employing the metaverse platform Gather for shadowing practice using TED Talks, focusing on the development of oral proficiency and affective attitudes among Korean EFL learners. A total of 49 college students participated, divided into two experimental groups. Group 1 (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 24) engaged in shadowing practice on Gather, while group 2 (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt; = 25) partook in the same shadowing activities in a traditional classroom. Data collection involved pre- and post-speaking tasks and pre- and post-questionnaires assessing affective attitudes. The results revealed significant improvements in speaking skills for both groups, with group 1 demonstrating a higher degree of effectiveness. Furthermore, participants in both groups exhibited increased interest, motivation, and confidence levels. However, a notable difference emerged in anxiety levels, as the students in group one displayed a significant decrease in speaking anxiety, while those in group two showed no improvement in speaking anxiety after participating in the study. The findings indicate that integrating Gather for shadowing practice can effectively enhance Korean EFL learners’ oral proficiency and positively influence their affective attitudes toward language learning. The study contributes to the growing body of research on the potential of metaverse platforms as alternative learning environments for language instruction.

The Care-Dependent are Less Averse to Care Robots: An Empirical Comparison of Attitudes

A growing gap is emerging between the supply of and demand for professional caregivers, not least because of the ever-increasing average age of the world’s population. One strategy to address this growing gap in many regions is the use of care robots. Although there have been numerous ethical debates about the use of robots in nursing and elderly care, an important question remains unexamined: how do the potential recipients of such care perceive situations with care robots compared to situations with human caregivers? Using a large-scale experimental vignette study, we investigated people’s affective attitudes toward care robots. Specifically, we studied the influence of the caregiver’s nature on participants’ perceived comfort levels when confronted with different care scenarios in nursing homes. Our results show that the care-robot-related views of actual care recipients (i.e., people who are already affected by care dependency) differ substantially from the views of people who are not affected by care dependency. Those who do not (yet) rely on care placed care robots’ value far below that of human caregivers, especially in a service-oriented care scenario. This devaluation was not found among care recipients, whose perceived level of comfort was not influenced by the caregiver’s nature. These findings also proved robust when controlled for people’s gender, age, and general attitudes toward robots.

Cognitive Bias Modification Training Targeting Fatigue in Patients With Kidney Disease: Usability Study.

Fatigue is an important symptom for many patients, including patients with kidney disease. Cognitive biases, such as attentional bias and self-identity bias, are thought to influence fatigue. Cognitive bias modification (CBM) training is a promising technique to counter fatigue. We aimed to evaluate a CBM training among patients with kidney disease and health care professionals (HCPs) and assess acceptability and applicability in the clinical setting using an iterative design process to evaluate expectations and experiences with the training. This was a longitudinal, qualitative, and multiple stakeholder-perspective usability study in which we interviewed end users and HCPs during the prototyping phase and after the end of training. We conducted semistructured interviews with 29 patients and 16 HCPs. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed thematically. Next to a general evaluation of the training, the acceptability of the training was evaluated using the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability, and applicability was assessed by evaluating obstacles and solutions for implementation in the kidney care setting. Generally, participants were positive about the training and its applicability. The biggest negatives were doubts about effectiveness and annoyance about the repetitive character of CBM. Acceptability was judged with a mixed evaluation, with a negative evaluation of perceived effectiveness; mixed results for burden, intervention coherence, and self-efficacy; and positive results for affective attitude, ethicality, and opportunity costs. Barriers for applicability were patients' varying computer skills, subjectivity of fatigue, and integration with regular treatment (eg, the role of HCPs). Possible solutions included assigning representatives among nurses, offering training on an app, and providing assistance via a help desk. The iterative design process, including repeated waves of testing user expectations and experiences, yielded complementary data. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to introduce a CBM training targeting fatigue. Furthermore, this study provides one of the first user evaluations of a CBM training, both among patients with kidney disease and their care providers. Overall, the training was evaluated positively, although acceptability showed mixed results. Applicability was positive although barriers were identified. The proposed solutions require further testing, preferably following the same frameworks, as the iteration in this study contributed positively to the quality of the training. Therefore, future research should follow the same frameworks and consider stakeholders and end users in eHealth intervention design.

Person-organization fit, person-job fit and organizational commitment among hotel employees: the roles of positive affect and calling

PurposeDrawing on affective events theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the mediation effect of positive affect on the association between fit (e.g. person-organization fit and person-job fit) and organizational commitment in the hospitality industry. The secondary aim is to investigate the moderated mediation effect of hospitality employees’ calling on these associations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data from 248 hotel employees in China at three different time points. A moderated mediation model was examined by using the bias-corrected bootstrapping method.FindingsResults revealed that person-organization fit and person-job fit indirectly influenced organizational commitment via positive affect. Calling was found to moderate the indirect influences of person-organization and person-job fit on organizational commitment via positive affect.Practical implicationsManaging employees’ affective experiences in the hospitality industry and promoting their organizational commitment are key strategies for hospitality organizations to promote service quality and retain their employees. This study suggests that hospitality organizations should actively attempt to improve employees’ fit perceptions and promote their sense of calling.Originality/valueBy theorizing and investigating the mediating role of positive affect and the moderating role of calling in the association between fit and employee commitment, this research extends existing knowledge on the association between fit–job attitudes and makes notable contributions to the hospitality literature on fit, affect, calling and job attitudes.

Hold me or stroke me? Individual differences in static and dynamic affective touch.

Low-threshold mechanosensory C-fibres, C-tactile afferents (CTs), respond optimally to sensations associated with a human caress. Additionally, CT-stimulation activates brain regions associated with processing affective states. This evidence has led to the social touch hypothesis, that CTs have a key role in encoding the affective properties of social touch. Thus, to date, the affective touch literature has focussed on gentle stroking touch. However, social touch interactions involve many touch types, including static, higher force touch such as hugging and holding. This study aimed to broaden our understanding of the social touch hypothesis by investigating relative preference for static vs dynamic touch and the influence of force on these preferences. Additionally, as recent literature has highlighted individual differences in CT-touch sensitivity, this study investigated the influence of affective touch experiences and attitudes, autistic traits, depressive symptomology and perceived stress on CT-touch sensitivity. Directly experienced, robotic touch responses were obtained through a lab-based study and vicarious touch responses through an online study where participants rated affective touch videos. Individual differences were determined by self-report questionnaire measures. In general, static touch was preferred over CT-non-optimal stroking touch, however, consistent with previous reports, CT-optimal stroking (velocity 1-10 cm/s) was rated most pleasant. However, static and CT-optimal vicarious touch were rated comparably for dorsal hand touch. For all velocities, 0.4N was preferred over 0.05N and 1.5N robotic touch. Participant dynamic touch quadratic terms were calculated for robotic and vicarious touch as a proxy CT-sensitivity measure. Attitudes to intimate touch significantly predict robotic and vicarious quadratic terms, as well as vicarious static dorsal hand touch ratings. Perceived stress negatively predicted robotic static touch ratings. This study has identified individual difference predictors of CT-touch sensitivity. Additionally, it has highlighted the context dependence of affective touch responses and the need to consider static, as well as dynamic affective touch.

Attitude toward Higher Education and Academic Engagement

The study aimed to examine college students' attitudes toward higher education and its effects on their academic engagement. To deepen the concept of the study, related literature was reviewed to broaden the understanding of human attitude and behaviour and academic engagement. The study used a descriptive assessment and correlational research design. The population of the study were students of the two colleges of Divine Word College of Laoag, Ilocos Norte, and Vigan, Ilocos Sur. To gather the data, validated questionnaires were used. To interpret the data, the Mean and Pearson r were used. Mean was used to measure the cognitive and affective attitude of students toward education and their academic engagement. Pearson r was used to determine the relationship between the cognitive and affective attitudes of students toward higher education and academic engagement. The study found that students' cognitive and affective attitude toward higher education correlates significantly with academic engagement.